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NICA Hold 8th Annual Conference

BikeFlights.com Buck Up for Bikes partner National Interscholastic Cycling Association (NICA) held their 8th annual national conference last week, and we invited their Communications and Marketing Manager Emily McDonald to tell us what went down in Sun Valley, Idaho.

Photo by Todd Bauer / TMBImages

The National Interscholastic Cycling Association (NICA) recently held its 8th annual National Conference at Sun Valley, Idaho. The NICA National Conference is an annual event that brings league leadership, NICA coach supporters, national staff, race production partners and sponsors together for professional development, strategic planning and discussion of best practices. This year the conference was attended by over 150 participants representing nearly all of NICA’s 27 leagues.

“The best takeaway was the in-person connections and interactions throughout the conference, on the trails riding bikes and around meals,” said NICA’s President, Steve Matous. “Getting to know people from all of our leagues and speaking in person was extremely valuable - the human touch is always the best method of connecting. Secondly, the quality of the presenters, their material and the engagement of our participants was incredible. We had a mix of detailed operational topics and more global and philosophical topics of concern, so everyone came away from the conference enriched and positively challenged.”

This year’s conference focused on leadership, character development and diversity, equity and inclusion, with special presentations by Rebecca Rusch, World Champion, Adventure Athlete, Author and Activist; Lou Bergholz, a Character Development Partner from Edgework Consulting; and Kat Smithhammer and Allison Bergh of Leadership at Play, and Risha Grant of Risha Grant, LLC. Additionally, there were two special presentations on NICA’s impact from Zack Rundell, a NICA student-athlete from the Pennsylvania League and the Hurst Family of the Idaho League.

“The 2019 National Conference was an invaluable experience. It is not often you have the opportunity to meet with like-minded individuals from across the country who are all working towards a common goal - to get more kids on bikes!” said Stephanie Chall, Director of Strategic Growth for the Maryland League. “The NICA team built-in opportunities for participants at all levels -- from inspirational coaching sessions to seminars on recognizing unconscious bias to working with people with disabilities to building community by riding with colleagues, there were important lessons to learn, and connections to be made, around every corner. I walked away with fresh ideas to build existing programs and inspiration to leverage new programs NICA has built for the coming year.”

For more information on the National Interscholastic Cycling Association, please visit www.nationalmtb.org or follow @nationalmtb on social media.

And don’t forget to add a buck (or four!) to your next BikeFlights.com order to contribute to NICA’s mission to put #morekidsonbikes.